we to the open public meetings act 231 1975 has been du aded sou the municipal cler CI requ stand for to the flag of the United States of America and stand na indivisible here here Jo here here Michael here Smith here here we have first it this evening is the fors yes Mary has you have a copy of yes feel for I Mary CCH Wilson who Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people help me go I'm Mary pet Wilson to who Solly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by all for the office of a member of school board education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuing to rs1 19-21 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in New Jersey s8a 12-1 and that I will faithfully and partially and justly performed all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations congratulations nice job a little hot evening his recogition of our governor teacher to the Year Awards um I understand the principles are going to get by ofed feach Mr would you like to start thank you Mr brand at this time I'd like to call forward Miss ususer hence Mar Seer of the year and congratulations Miss you're welcome and very similar to one we do soon in the month now you get to hear the real good stuff here as I said I'd like to introduce the the board to you and congratulate you so a little bit of a bio uh Miss hens has 18 years of total experience as a classroom teacher and is currently in her fifth year teaching at marf jir elementary school where she is assigned as a first grade teacher prior to her employment in the township of Franklin Public Schools Miss hence was a teacher at Bishop Shad Regional School in binland and then served in the same role at St Mar's Regional School in Williamstown Miss hence is a Woodbury High School Gloucester County College and Rowan University graduate Miss H hence earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education and English from browan University Miss hence is highly involved in the marf jamier elementary school Community as a member of the school safety climate character education committee the school spirit committee and she has completed multiple curriculum revision projects Miss hence values watching her students grow and learn and finds a great amount of satisfaction when her students feel proud of themselves near the conclusion of the school year when they recognize how much they have learned in my words as a snapshot for Miss hence Miss hence is a dedicated professional who consistently demonstrates a genuine passion for teaching children through a presentation of lessons that address student learning needs and a supportive academically focused environment that develops student enthusiasm for the learning process and celebrates the children's achievements congratulations Miss hence welld deserved congratulations on being our teacher of the year thank you thank you so much you very much thank you social media cont good evening I'd like to call up Miss Fel k this way we can get on camera see the board and get on camera so miss ke is a teacher of the year at the Caroline Ritter school she has cons uh she has earned her Bachelor's of Arts degree in elementary education from Richard stock University and she is currently pursuing her master's degree in administration I also do want to mention she is my administrative intern very proud of her uh with Wilmington University Miss kit has consistently demon demonstrated an unwavering commitment to fostering a love for learning among her students Miss K's teaching philosophy revolves around placing students at the center of their educational Journey her classroom is renowned for its Dynamic and engaging learning environment where students are not just recipients of knowledge but active participants in the learning process colleagues commend her for her Innovative and student censored approach that Sparks curiosity and enthusiasm for literature and language Beyond her role in the classroom Miss kit has proven herself to be both a mentor and an advocate for her fellow Educators serving as a mentor for novice teacher and taking on the crucial role of team leader for the sixth grade liberal arts department she has been instrumental in creating a collaborative and supportive atmosphere her leadership extends to various committees including our school leadership committee the district Ela committee and also the district leadership committee Miss K routinely provides insightful perspectives and thoughtful methods whereas she actively contributes to the enhancements of both our school and also our district her commitment to staying informed about the latest educational practices showcases her desire to offer the best possible education for her students in addition to her professional achievements Miss kit possesses a remarkable ability to build meaningful connections described by one of her colleagues she's described as someone who makes other people want to be better she establishes strong Rapport not only with her students but also with parents and families congratulations Miss ke on this well-deserved recognition congratul congrat I'd like to bring up Mr disantis our teacher of year main Ro [Music] School main road is happy to announce Mr DeSantis as the 2023 2024 educator of the Year Mr DeSantis has been in educ ation for 10 years 9 years at mainroad school over the years he has taught all four subject areas in both third and fourth grade he's seen as a strong role model in our school and his consistent dedication to his students does not go unnoticed Mr DeSantis has a reputation for being an amazing teacher he teaches his students to be part of a class and school community that is held to the highest regard he's highly engaged with parents through consistent communication going Beyond just a report of a events and students progress when it comes to working with colleagues Mr Dan santis is an active PLC member and is seen as a leader on the math team he continually finds real world applicable skills to tie into lessons for his third grade class highlighting the importance of the concept he interacts with students as individuals taking the time to get to know them and their families more personally he seeks to help students as a tutor before and after school to ensure that they are getting the most from their education he's seen as a strong role model in our school and his consistent dedication to a students does not go un noticed he works continuously to ensure that he is meeting the students needs and celebrating their progress thank you Mr DeSantis for going above and beyond for our mainor students on congratulations Mr sanis from of the board congratulations conrat I'd like to P forward Miss Donna [Applause] Selfridge Miss Selfridge is our Educational Services professional of the year for the school district so we're very proud to have you in our school so with that said congratulations and now you get to hear all the good stuff uh Miss Selfridge is currently in her 15th year as a power professional in Franklin Township Public School District uh her current assignment has her supporting student learning in the second grade Resource Center at marf janir Elementary School Mrs Selfridge is a graduate of Clayton High School and Gloucester County College upon graduation from Gloucester County College Miss Selfridge obtained an associates degree in business when asked what she values the most about working with children Miss Selfridge responded that she values each child's unique personality and enjoys helping them to learn and celebrate their achievements in my words as a snapshot of Miss Selfridge she is a dedicated professional who consistently demonstrates enthusiasm towards helping children through the application of her positive attitude and her flexible demeanor Miss Selfridge is a team player who is a true benefit to our school and our school district congratulations Miss Selfridge on this very well-deserved honor congratulations on of thank you excellent pres congratulations we have congratulations uh next item on agenda this evening presentation of our annual audit so well listen the good news is is that I've got a two-page document for you tonight not 175 page document so it'll be short and sweet I'll go over the financial highlights of the audit the June 30th 2023 audit the results are good there are three opinions that are rendered in the audit report in that 175 pages on pages 17 to 20 is the independent auditor report I'm happy to report to the board that an unmodified opinion has been rendered on the financial statements all the assets liabilities fund balances revenues expenditures and not disclosers are fairly stated as of June 30th 2023 so hats off there that's the best opinion that can be rendered uh the audit was conducted in accordance with auditing uh standards generally accepted in the United States government auditing standards and the requirements set for by the New Jersey Department of Education so really a good report there there's another report back on page 161 and 162 exhibit K1 it is a report on internal control over financial reporting and compliance um our firm reviewed and evaluated internal controls and tested the compliance with New Jersey laws and regulations there were no internal control weaknesses that were that were noted nor any instances of non-compliance with all the testing that we do we're here at uh what do you think Trish 250 hours we're here a lot of hours and there's a lot of uh uh internal control and compliance testing and checklist so really a great job there uh the district also had on pages uh 163 to 165 uh a single audit and we had an independent Auditor's report on compliance for each major program and report on internal control over compliance we selected for the federal single audit the assistance listing number 8 4425 which is the education stabilization funding they The Arc funds and we also for the state programs tested the state a public there are hundreds of different compliance requirements that we go through and we test with those two programs and again no comments no recommendations uh unmodified opinion was uh rendered um the types of compliance requirements that could have a direct and material effect on each of those federal and state programs for the year end of June 30th 20 20 23 again the best opinion it can be rendered really good job there some financial highlights for the governmental funds your general fund your main operating fund fund balance decrease a little over a million doar you have a balance of $4,825 th000 on the Gap basis your special Revenue fund increased $3,200 it's up to about 21,000 that represents the Student Activity funds that are left your capital projects fund decreased 61,000 that's down to 41,000 and your debt service your fund balance have no change we take money in from a capital reserve account and we pay the principal and interest on that Debt Service uh the proprietary funds the Food Service fund just about broke even it was $850 $854 increase for the year uh that that that fund is in also really good shape as well there's $442,000 in the Food Service fund at the end of the uh year uh if you flip that that two-page document there's a financial summary of the budgetary basis for ex IIT C1 it's on pages 93 to 97 uh the district for 2023 had excess Revenue over budget of $677,000 really good you had unexpended Appropriations your expenditures were less than your Appropriations by 1,676 th000 we generated $2,353 th000 uh back into Surplus we utilized though 3,462 th000 that was that decrease of that 1.1 million that I talked about earlier on that first page comparison of budget versus actual expenditures in the general fund the total Appropriations were 25 m936 th000 we expended 24, 259,000 that represents 93.5% of the budget that we spent for the June 30th 2023 year and then at the bottom of that page is the fund balance the recapitulation of the fund balances for um June 30th 2023 and you'll see there we had a reserve for incumbrances of right around 400,000 we had capital reserve monies of 1,896 th000 for future Capital that we can do the maintenance Reserve we have uh just about $840,000 at the end of the year the unemployment Reserve has $392,000 we utilize 1,1 149,000 in the 24 budget year that we're in and we have unreserved and undesignated surplus of $982,000 which represents about 4% of um the budget so really really good numbers again no comments no recommendations finance department continues to do a really good job and um Trish thank you and thank the staff for all the courtesies that were extended to us when we're here yeah and as always if you have any comments or questions throughout the year reach out it's nice to tackle with then and not doing any right yeah okay all right guys keep up good work we're coming this evening so basically summary we have recommendation for modation of our current practices correct really good question I question where does that unreserved and undated what those funds go now um those funds are available to be used for the budget that the finance department is going to be putting together now for the 2425 Year yes thank you y all right all right guys con like to compliment your office year that I know there a lot of I do I my off St um even for St some the other building secretaries as well because it is a huge job um not one person you guys here apprciate so thank you very much for your time anytime anytime keep up the good work okay all right guys have a good night next item istion for without any the public second second all fav say is anyone from the public any list seeing no one inion public second second all in favor um School Board President we not have the necessity for S evening so long as no one has addition question resour um so we school board report um I just would like to report back to you guys uh on the outcome of the the meeting which I attended at dely um for their superintendent search know got invitation to participate meeting with dely um in in their search for for superintendent that was able to attend that meeting it was probably uh 15 to 20 participants outside of Del uh Administration was there uh what yeah May that in addition myself it was a nice makeup of community members um mayor attended School Board president from uh Newfield uh member of the alwn board Church president member members of the delc staff were there at different capacities um so it was a really productive meting essentially into uh a couple different groups the brain St what we were looking for you know next superintendent for for dely put those you know ideas on paper and then we put those ideas up through all the groups um went through you know as a group and identified some overlapping ideas and commonalities things that we definitely wanted put on and then we went through and formulated inter groups couple inter questions uh that'll be presented to their candidates related to this toic um it was a really productive meeting I thank on behalf board the D Administration for allowing us to participate um I had asked their the chair of their committee you know what their anticipated peline was and I believe they're going to hold interviews uh this coming month and they're anticipating on making an appointment uh to that position sometime in April based on the information that was provided Mr chair their their committee also offend was several members their board Mr Mr Jo was there business administrator Anthony Patrick um he was their assistant superintendent a really nice guy um and as I said Mr Frank is ATT so was good think get out there any questions I did present did have questions from two of our board members um which I presented you know in our small there for part of the any members have any questionsin mons all right any questions Mr sh you have nothing new from school boards um I guess just as far as our training requirements Trish will be reaching out to us on that as soon as it comes through right yes it'll open the next round there's nothing else it's kind of quiet this thank you any member of report I have the privilege of being over at car school on First Friday um it's just such an exciting time I my second time being there and so engaged um where very welcoming and um they besides the on that apparently did started new one flal design which was really nice um the the one I didn't go into was the kickboxing I watched from the window um but it just a really special time to see the children so excited to engage in Project have from January 22nd uh to R those any changes com question that's a motion to approve second all fav um so moving on our agenda we have human resources yeah Human Resources like said we very very all right no questions comments I'll make mission to approve Human Resources items H 11 by superintendent second second any comments yes yes yeso yes Michael yes you want me say p Wilson or Wilson or P say p p yes SAR yes Frank yes yeah the same thing only actually one item that actually very very any I just have one comment I'm just glad to see I hav a lot of in- housee um conferences are work but it's nice to see Teach going District there's a lot of good worksh District to see that um one quick comment before I call for for approval typically just adopting the 24 25 student historically we do that in February um I did pull it from the agenda with what here I go over to make sure those calends match as close as possible um they are actually having their professional development days prior to labori se so I did meet with the leadership of tfda I thre that out there to them uh and having a membership first so I thr that out to membership to see if they prior to this way our calendar could match with Bel just best practice so soon resp on them have so is there Essen there two days we not be able to correct correct has their contract provide P prior to so we would be looking to start the after students students will start at Tuesday after uh we start well Hopey will work that out you know in the many years I've been training CH one of the biggest complaints I've heard from from parents is um why the coun can um it's a huge in for many parents who have students in the two districts I'm looking over here I see some sitting at the table my children obious the only ones now that it's no longer an issue for myself but but again that's something reing thing that I've heard for here to prior to my time of the school board so definitely be uh beneficial I think very appreciated by the community as the whole we do our best match that c actually supposed to so whatever to do certainly appreciate um any other questions on education if not made a motion to approve education items i1 through I6 asmen by super second than any comments yeso yes Michael Yes P yes scar yes yes yes motion car um y just our normal monthly items enrollment attendance drills there has discipline table we'll see the ssds rep from period twice a year we have to report safety submission any questions commission approve by General administra j17 second uh have questions Michael Yes P yes yes sh yes cting yes yeso yes yes operations operations is also I have one question I thought but there's couple S one of them had large am test or there's actually been some catchup items that we needed to there some office issues not items 2 3 and four of the month of December question five report for well 6 7 8 9 10 11 are not 12 fa reest SCH 13 is none 14 is the annual audit approved presented by it 15 is amendment to the SCH year 22 br Prov so that just a switch to yes he make motion to approve operations K1 that's right by superintend second second yes but um see p one B two and three just line items Michael yes yes Le yes in yes Lo yes great yeah all right um whole business we have cility believe yeah um on Wednesday of last week Diane Mr Bon and myself went to the regional uh the um row presentation of regionalization and for like 4 hours I watched it I start it I don't know how to say it really kind of wasn't need to be new new to us because we're going through it was mostly for people that are coming in I think um who are considering it for their districts and the new field president was there because he's brand new to the to the situation Henry um bman was there um it was kind of interesting because I did learn a couple little nuances and a couple little things as far as like the reason that people are doing are considering other than money you know um and and I found it to be a little bit of a no surprise here a little bit of a promo for their rows you know we can do this and we can do that it's part of the LEAP program in that but it was it was very quick there were four little sessions I think four or five sessions what I did like is I did not know having come in so late in the process that um when the application was prepared by dely there were certain things that had to be answered the criteria is was listed on that printing or that presentation so I got it I guess you got the final thing to I am right did you get your email I got one that day from one of the people maybe I'll send it to try would you consider attaching it to the weekly update um it's actual um PowerPoint you know which made it a little bit quicker and easier to read and at the end um they did a do what to do and what not to do like a does and dos which we found very helpful um and fun it was kind of like funny the guy if you know some people from Salem Mr for is kind of a character so he was telling us don't do this you know make sure you do that and it helped a lot with that area but these are people I think that were just starting the process not as far long as we are um and there was there's still a lot of questions and one of the things I like which I didn't realize was when they start to really get into this um final uh presentation to us the final paper they will entertain questions that are unique to the district not just like the ones they normally do and I think we have some that are very unique here being in two constituent districts going into delce makes it very different in my opinion than five small districts trying to to regionalize because we're already kind of in there there's a lot of infrastructure issu issues a lot and uh the one superintendent the Henry Hudson group that already has done it and there's like what four or five districts um they have the same superintendent on like while they still have different business people still have their infrastructure is different their teachers contracts are different so they still have that implementation to go through that's not going to be that easy and uh so we will get implementation uh grants and a has asked and we've asked so many times well what what's it going to cover you know it sounds like we can get quite a bit of money but I don't think it's going to go SP they think so um there's a lot of questions but it was pretty informative so I'll get Troy to send it out an update you know it's it's was pretty easy to go through wasn't it just couple things also that Henry has a really nice uation web page there is CH full information there I also felt that there financial department of va very veryable so I was contct inform church so um probably is worth your time to put that like it really pains the picture and some the correspondence so you having those connections I think all we have another meeting 29th this9 29 yeah part just to clarify I think I understand the public confus the me the meeting you attended was uh the general information Regal B not specific stud it was like general information it was kind of like a little bit of a proo I think for them to to to bring people and talked about how to get the grants from from the state to get that um talked about the barriers that were there in the past that are now pretty much change pretty much been changed so yeah it was General it wasn't specific to us yes one of the one things that like that caught my attention and I thought with the community to hear something about the Equitable aspect of this like first IED yeah I thought that that really stood out like I never thought of it that way like kids who go to bigger districts have more opportunity like they gave an example I forget what example they gave but like maybe some small school can't afford a Spanish teacher so they have an online program but then another school has your three full-time Spanish teachers in French and this and that and when they get back school they have all this experience and then the other student went go smaller School done done so like as an eable standpoint that really caught my attention as a community member I want my kids educational experience at that it was a music teacher say the kids got to nth grade instrumental music kids some of the small districts the kids were not as um experienced as some of the others and it just really was hard for the Freshman teacher even for teachers for like professional development instructional coaches like districts don't have the opportunity to grow their expertise because they don't have the money to pay for that kind of stuff and they the that attention bu I'm just going to tack to the community super um basically she said people want to start that process ail4 she will be here at meting in April she's just finalizing she's advise us on what it is her organization to do to help us that Serv that's not information process while we starting in ail we also want have a compation as what we do go with n if you want look at another organization we probably need to start going through so them prior to meeting with Harry or very soon after we need to start the process in April I don't even know who else I don't even know Trish what other organizations I I mean I'm not saying that's where we're going if we decide not to do that then we're kind of we Haven about anything else so what else want search avail um not but um no you get your point I what other options are available for us ourselves you know we don't use service they Prov our membership dou but I would say the process may be a little less interal are jough you a lot are you new to this Bo so it does look like School Char for the serviceability mul sear options does or does not it's not comparably speaking all right that's good point that for some reason to be able to se fromp right sure again pretty quick one um again you don't really have much more information last time um still put together some of thetive items as well as budget that have this week but this so tonight obviously they'll have much more information together again still hav't heard from the governor um off that will be pushing back at St so as of now it still stands that he will get his on February 27 and he should proceive 2 Days Later feary um still you got the increased health benefits the ship the is part of has not yet they will not meet until de 28 again that's late this year to get a final increase bu there um looking at Transportation buses or looking at leasing um instead of purchasing two new pass 54 passenger buses at 325,000 four buses AT3 um so that's probably recommendations shattering additions so information audit the balance was almost million however the county do this official will not approve the budget if it does not have $250,000 so we cannot go $250,000 Bally can't $8,000 um as a tax have not any that those FS have so even the numbers should seem wonderful great we're still going to be um we'll have the executive summary review of SE and that have is there any MERS about the I have not I do know the application that we put in um I guess there are approval letters sitting in some office in however the Govern press to effect that's the only thing we're waiting on is that station information as well as station and how much State app we applied for the amount of Z that we have lost cumulatively over the past four or five years so it was about 1.2 million Maybe and obvious water picture um any other comments um I know this is probably not anytime soon but I know that there are there's a gr opportunity Toc for buses um that has begun in terms of bus Finance bu yeah have we looked into that at all since we have to replace our own yes and yes I know I mean obviously we looked into it however currently one El must cost about $400,000 cover all it we have the right grant so it typically should cover that however I don't believe that that Grant does actually cover the infrastructure updating and tying into basically the grid that we would have to do Sol projects so El electrician the electrici cost electricity cost cost those I don't does that just l so yes we looked into it getting a full Fleet for that and I think the technology would need to be a little bit better we have 56 miles to charge the bus that size would take probably more than overnight as well as so the amount of battery and M yet batteries um may not beable for the of so unless the technology get better as well as down technology does over right really mention second matters make second all favor you step forward so we're being approved for some buses for the coming school year this year for yeah sorry can you st your name please my name is Lor Walker and your question was for um more buses this year no not yet um we're going to they'll potentially be presented be approved uh in the upcoming Bud as of now it's not okay because they put four of our buses the the new second in January bues where um but put off the road because they we're not te see so didn't get bu this year and I was just curious if be getting Ian for I don't know we have the purchase of right make has money in fund purchase of those buses a whole budget has to be approved at that point and then once the budget is approved be typically then send a letter agement to that company however we're going to try to lease the buses because we get more buses for a way lower payment ex um so that's that process will be reviewed um typically we won't have those usually until the beginning of July I have another question this is just something that there's really going around out I know if you guys could to sell that or or what but um there's a lot of talk about dely and Frank emerging again as we did like 10 years ago or so um there's a lot of people talking about that and I just wasn't sure if that's something that's going to happen if that's something that's in the plans or if that's just a rumor that's going on because it didn't work before so I was just curious as if that was something that was going to be happening again uh currently there's feasibility study which is being performed um in partnership with with our district along with um Del Regional El Township and Newfield um the results of that study I believe are to be presented to the public in around in April so we don't have any information as to the feasibility of that so it's being there's a study going on it's being looked at but aside from that any other information you may or may not heard probably accurate because the study is not complete so people talking around town happen yeah I mean I don't good question representing the board members one aerification yeah okay I mean I would you know I would caution you that again complete so I'd be somewhat skeptical of any specific information that you're been told by anyone related to that because we don't have information not sure and and then you go to vote to the to Community yeah if if that was to happen it's a long process and it's a very public process so it's not something that would would happen without uh the community uh being involved and participa in the process and and now you left the process okay um I mean I wish I gave you more information at this point we still have the information right now other than we're looking into the possibility of doing that okay thank you sure any other questions see I second all in favor we have our upcoming uh work session scheduled for March the 13th that be our meeting Administration B we have our number um and then a regular meeting uh here on March regular meeting stting 6 12 and just one point clarification ask the reward work s meeting cision was yes was there any other question motion second second all favor we are thank you congratulations again the